The Ballad of Ellwood House

Here's another video from the cassette tape I purchased in Texas last month. This song is "The Ballad of Ellwood House." Words and music by Francis Stroup, and performed by Dave Parker with Paul Nelson.

If you've ever visited the Ellwood House Museum, you need to hear this song, posted below.


To hear "The Barbed Wire National Anthem," click here.

"Honoring DeKalb's Inventors" envelope

This commemorative envelope, distributed by the Land of Lincoln Barbed Wire Collectors Association in 1974, honors "DeKalb's inventors."

Isaac Ellwood, Jacob Haish and Joseph Glidden are portrayed on the envelope to advertise the Barbed Wire Centennial. Although the Land of Lincoln group was later disbanded, many of these commemorative envelopes (in various designs) are still floating around today. I recently posted about a Haish design here.

Thanks to Rob Glover, Glidden Homestead executive director, for sharing this with me.

Detail of the envelope. Ellwood, Haish and Glidden are pictured.

Barbed wire field trips, booklets in the works

The cover of the Joseph F. Glidden pamphlet currently used in DeKalb elementary schools. | Image provided by DeKalb Area Agricultural Heritage Association

DeKalb Area Agricultural Heritage Association (DAAHA) is working to educate DeKalb students on the city's barbed wire barons.

Currently, DeKalb School District #428 has a booklet that teaches the district's second grade students about Joseph F. Glidden. 

"The teachers really like the format and commented that it would be nice to have one on other key DeKalb figures," said Donna Langford, DAAHA manager of operations. 

Dr. Anne Almberg of Founder's Elementary wrote one on Annie Glidden, Ellwood House wrote on Isaac Ellwood, and DAAHA volunteered to do one on Jacob Haish.

The booklets are used to meet the curriculum's English Language Arts standards, combining local history with reading and writing exercises. A grant for the schools will cover the cost of printing these materials.

A field trip is also in the works to help further students' understanding of the barbed wire barons, and funding is needed to bus students to these locations: the Ellwood House Museum, the Glidden Homestead and Historical Center, and the parking lot which was once the location of the Haish mansion.

DAAHA estimates the total cost is $4,435.31 for eight days (8 elementary schools and 22 classes) to visit these locations. A grant application has been made to help with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade busing for field trips.The busing costs for the 3rd and 4th graders is in addition to the $4,435.31.

Want to help DeKalb elementary students learn more about the founders of their very own Barb City?

Monetary donations are needed to make these field trips happen each year, so hopefully the second grade classes can take this field trip each fall. 

Any size donation is appreciated for the second grade field trips and will help the grant funds go further for the 3rd and 4th graders. DAAHA is a 501(c)3 and can provide thank you letters to each donor to document the donation to a charitable organization. 

Donations can be sent by mail to:

DAAHA

111 South Second St.

Suite 204

DeKalb, IL 60115

Please specify that your donation is to help fund the second grade field trips.

For more information, email daaha.inc@gmail.com or call 815-756-8737.

Interview With: Steve Bigolin

Steve Bigolin sits in front of his "DeKalb wall" in his DeKalb home. An original photograph of Jacob Haish hangs above his right shoulder. | Photo by Jessi LaRue

When one thinks of barbed wire and DeKalb County history, one name usually comes to mind: Steve Bigolin.

Not only is he a collector of historical items and documents, but he's a collector of facts, as well: just one question about local history can have him rattling off dates and anecdotes without hesitation.

Bigolin first toured the Ellwood House in the 1970s, and that visit kickstarted his interest in DeKalb County. He studied history at Northern Illinois University, and in the years since has written historical columns for the Daily Chronicle, helped save local historical buildings, guided countless bus and walking tours, and much more.

He's also been studying Jacob Haish for more than 40 years. 

A portion of our conversation is below.

Jessi: Where does your interest in Jacob Haish come from?
Steve: I first fell in love with Haish, purely and simply, because of his house. (Editor's note: Bigolin never got to see the mansion when it stood; he arrived six years after it was demolished.) It was a tremendous work of architecture. It was such an exuberant example of Queen Anne style architecture. 

About that same time, I saw Haish's barbed wire factory at Sixth and Lincoln, which became the Nehring Electric Works factory in 1916. (A McDonald's sits at that location today.) When I realized the history behind this building I said, 'I'm gonna help save it!' and I contacted Paul Nehring. His father was still living at the time, although in extremely poor health, so I was never able to meet him unfortunately. But in the spring of 1979, just before demolition began on the building, we took the suit to try to stop the city from tearing it down to U.S. District Court in Chicago. The judge ruled he didn't have jurisdiction in the case. Paul thought he was bought off. 

The more I learned about Haish, his background and everything, the more I just came to adore him. I really thought he was the underdog in the barbed wire business and didn't deserve to be!

Steve Bigolin shows Jacob Haish slides on a projector in his DeKalb home. | Photo by Jessi LaRue

Jessi: What are your thoughts on the demolition of his mansion?
Steve: He missed one thing in preparing his will. He left the house for lifetime use to his housekeeper Anna Anderson. He didn't think beyond when Anna Anderson would die. By the time she did in the 1950s, the trustees of the estate needed to liquidate all the assets of the estate to make the Jacob Haish Memorial Hospital a reality. They had the right to sell it. 

In 1961 both Ellwood and Haish house were on the market for sale at the same time. Haish estate had sold to Lutheran Church for $25,000. The church was trying to get $25,000 back from it. Ellwood House was for sale at asking price of $100,000, but was in much worse physical condition and all the out buildings were in shambles. At one point Mrs. Perry Ellwood had offered the house to NIU for use as the president's home, and they turned it down because of the condition it was in and how much was going to need to be spent to make it usable again. Richard Nelson, who was president of NIU from 1971 to 1978, told me that story.

Jessi: Why do you think Haish deserves more recognition?
Steve: Much more so, especially than Glidden, he was involved in so many activities. Glidden was basically DeKalb-centered. Jacob not only gave monies when he died to the Masonic Temple and other local groups that he was with, but even before he died, he had given money to a manual training school in Colorado. There are a number of Western states where his wire was more sought after for use than Glidden's.

Steve Bigolin holds an image of Jacob Haish that once hung in the Haish School in the 300 block of south Ninth Street in DeKalb. The school was demolished in 1975, but the Haish Gymnasium is still nearby. | Photo by Jessi LaRue